Depression Risk Increased After Miscarriage

New York - Miscarriage can represent a physical stress
to the body of a woman as well as lead to emotional trauma affecting
women and their families.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics (1997),
the pregnancies of approximately half a million women annually
in the United States end in miscarriage. The impact of miscarriages
is further underscored by current estimates that nearly 20 percent
of recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage.

In a study published in the Journal
of the American Medical Association (1997;277:383-388)
Dr. Richard Neugebauer and colleagues compared the risk for an
episode of major depressive disorder among miscarrying women in
the first 6 months after their loss of pregnancy with community
women who had not been pregnant.

Dr. Neugebauer's study found that there was a significant
risk of depression in women after miscarriage. Furthermore, 72
percent of the episodes of major depression occurred during the
first month after the loss of the pregnancy.

The study also found that the risk for depression
was substantially higher for those miscarrying women who had no
children. Further, the data demonstrated that over half of the
women with prior histories of major depression experienced recurrences
after they had miscarriages.

The authors conclude that women should be monitored
for signs of depression during the weeks after miscarriage.